Do you know how many people speak English?
About 350 million people speak English all around the world.
English is an official language in many countries.
In countries such as Japan and Korea, English is not an official language,
but everybody learns it in school as a second language.
This is why English is often called "the international language."
English is very useful when you travel to other countries.
For example, if you visit Germany,
most people there won't understand Japanese,
but almost everybody will understand simple English phrases like
"I want this" or "Do you have eggs?"
because they study English at school.
English is also very useful on the Internet, because
English is the most used language there.
If you understand English, you can get a lot of information from all over the world.
You can import what you want from other countries.
You can make friends with people all over the world through e-mails.
Many athletes and musicians study English.
If athletes can speak English,
they may be able to play in very strong teams in other countries.
If musicians can sing in English, they can sell their CDs abroad.
Many businesspeople study English in order to do business with people from other countries.
It is sometimes hard to study English,
because you have to learn a lot of words and rules,
and a lot of students say they don't like studying English,
but if you think of all the wonderful things you can do with English,
I'm sure your everyday work will be more enjoyable.
English is your future door to the world.
Have you ever done a volunteer activity?
In a volunteer activity, you help people in trouble without pay.
Many students join volunteer activities during their vacations,
and many working people do so on Saturdays and Sundays.
Some people donate money to volunteer groups.
In Cambodia, many people are sick because they can't get clean water.
A lot of children are sick because they have to drink dirty water that has germs.
They need more wells to get more clean water,
but they don't have enough money and technology to dig wells.
A Japanese volunteer group is helping them to dig wells in Cambodia.
They use recent digging technology, and they are digging many wells in poor villages.
This is hard work
because it is very hot there and there are not many people who can use the machines.
Many people in Japan support their activity by donations.
They can dig one well for ¥100,000.
This is not too expensive because you can save a lot of lives there.
Some rich people and companies choose to spend money for poor people
rather than for expensive cars.
Of course you don't always have to pay such a lot of money to be a volunteer.
Ten yen is helpful enough if a lot of people make a donation.
Don't think it's difficult to start a volunteer activity.
You can start one anytime, anywhere.
Japanese anime is very popular all over the world,
and many kids and adults enjoy it.
Years ago when people heard the word "Japan," they thought of ninjas, cherry blossoms,
and samurais, but these days they think of Dragon Ball, Pokemon, and Totoro.
Japan's image abroad is rapidly changing because of these animation titles.
Have you ever heard the word "otaku?"
An otaku is a person who likes anime and comics very much and collects many character items.
Some of them even make simple animation movies and give their own ideas to animation companies.
Several years ago, a lot of people thought otakus were strange and dangerous,
but now they are playing a very important role in our culture.
Otaku culture is spreading abroad now.
Japanese anime and comics are translated all over the world.
Not only children but also adults enjoy them.
Animation characters are printed on T-shirts and many other items.
In California there was a party recently.
In the party everyone was dressed like animation charactors,
and they sang animation theme songs.
A lot of foreign tourists visit Akihabara, Tokyo,
where they can meet many otakus, and can buy many character items.
There you sometimes see people in animation costumes on the street.
Some people still say anime and otakus are not a good part of our culture,
but we should be more proud of Japanese anime and the otakus who support it.
My grandfather died when I was in the second grade of elementary school.
I don't remember him well,
but I can still remember the strong smell of cigarettes when I was with him.
He was a heavy smoker and died of lung cancer.
My parents say he loved me very much because I was his only grandchild.
I have a picture of him and me beside the bed.
He is smiling and holding me in his arms.
Then I was four years old. I am now eighteen years old, but
when I see this picture, I feel he is still beside me, and is always watching over me.
My parents say my grandfather was always making trouble for the family when he was alive.
He liked to drink, went gambling, and had a lot of debt.
My father worked many years to pay back the debt.
But for me, my grandfather is always the gentle smiling person in the picture.
One day in winter, when everybody was sleeping silently, a very big earthquake occurred.
In this earthquake, a lot of people in the neighborhood died,
and my parents were badly injured when some chests fell on them.
I was all right. There was a large chest and a large mirror just beside my bed,
but they didn't fall over, though everything else in the house fell.
Nobody in my family smoked cigarettes,
but at that time, I could strangely smell cigarettes in my room.
Thomas Edison was born in 1847, in the town of Milan, Ohio.
Ever since he was very small, he wanted to know the reason for everything he saw.
When he was in elementary school, he only studied what he liked,
and asked the teachers many strange questions. Teachers didn't like him very much.
Finally he left school, and his mother taught him at home.
He liked science very much, and did a lot of experiments in the basement of his house.
When he was twelve years old, he sold newspapers in trains
in order to get money for his experiments.
He even did his experiments in moving trains and made his own newspapers.
After becoming an adult, he made his own laboratory and factory, and made many inventions.
He made the first phonograph in the world.
A phonograph is a machine which can record sounds.
He recorded his own voice on this machine.
Everybody who heard the sound coming from the machine was very surprised and was not able to sleep that night.
Before he died, he invented over 1000 things.
He only invented things which made our lives happy,
and he never invented any weapons of war.
He hated war and loved peace.
Not only Amecicans but also people all over the world respect him very much.
I first went to Japan when I was twelve years old.
Before I went to Japan, I didn't know the country very well.
I had seen some samurai movies, so I thought people were still fighting with swords there.
When my father told me that we were going to Japan for our vacation,
I was a little bit scared.
When we arrived at Narita International Airport,
I was very surprised that everything was modern.
There were no samurais with swords, and people wore western clothes.
We took a bus to downtown Tokyo.
Everything I saw through the bus window was quite different from what I had expected.
There were many concrete buildings and a lot of cars.
After arriving at the hotel in the evening,
we took a walk outside, and went to a train station.
After a train arrived, crowds of people rushed out like buffalos,
so we had to hold hands so we wouldn't lose each other.
I had never seen such a lot of people walking at the same time, so I was very surprised.
Although it was a hot summer day, most people wore suits and neckties.
They looked very busy and walked very fast.
During our stay, we went to many places in Tokyo, such as Asakusa, Shinjuku, and Akihabara.
There were a lot of people everywhere, and the roads were always crowded with cars.
Although the sightseeing was interesting,
I was very tired after several days, and I wanted to come back very much.
When we arrived back in Iowa, I felt very happy that I was born here.
Why do you go to a university?
In countries such as Japan and the United States,
many high school students go on to a university,
but many of them can't answer this question well.
There are some students who answer, "Because my parents told me to do so."
This is not a good answer because university education is not for their parents but for themselves.
Before you leave high school, you acquire basic knowledge in all subjects.
This might be enough to do simple work, or just do what your boss says,
but if you want to create something interesting or to change society,
you will need much more than the basic knowledge you acquired in high school.
Kevin learned law in university, and he's now a rawyer.
He works hard every day to help handicapped people.
He uses law to help them get a good job.
His father was a handicapped person,
and he decided to study law in university to help people like his father.
Takeo learned English in university, and he is now an interpreter who works for the government.
He decided to study English in university, because he wanted to know more about the world
and to make friends with many people all around the world.
His dream now is to make the world a more peaceful place.
There are many things you can learn in university.
You can freely choose what you are going to study.
The important thing is that you have a future dream to chase.
New York City is sometimes called "The Big Apple."
It is a huge city, and many people work and live there.
In the Big Apple, you can enjoy many kinds of activities.
If you like art, you should visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This museum is huge and has a lot of paintings and statues collected from all over the world.
The museum is divided into many sections with a theme.
If you are interested in archaeology, you should visit the ancient Egypt section.
If you are interested in Oriental Art, you might like the Japan section.
One day is never enough to enjoy everything in this museum.
If you are a person who loves musicals, the Big Apple may be your paradise.
There are many musical theaters in the center of the city,
and you can see many world famous plays.
Even if you don't perfectly understand English, you can enjoy music and dancing.
If you are interested in architecture, there are many interesting buildings in the city.
The Empire State Building is a beautiful, tall building built many years ago.
There are many beautiful old churches.
You can go in and enjoy the interiors and the stained glass.
Don't forget to visit the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island.
There is a ferry to the island, and from the deck of the ferry you can enjoy the view of the skyscrapers.
If you are wondering where to go during your next vacation, the Big Apple should be your choice.
You will never be sorry if you come to New York.
Japan and the United States are very friendly toward each other now.
Many Japanese and Americans visit each other's country,
and a lot of people do business together.
Japanese people love American movies, and American people love Japanese animation.
So many young students are surprised to hear that there was a big war between Japan and the United States.
This war was called the Pacific War.
The war started when Japanese airplanes suddenly attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in 1941.
In this attack, many American battleships were sunk and many young marines died.
American people got very angry at this "surprise attack."
At first Japan was very strong and won many battles, but in the Battle of Midway island,
the United States beat Japan, and the Japanese navy lost many ships.
This became the turning point of the war. After this, Japan kept losing battles.
Many people began to think Japan would never win the war, but Japan didn't surrender easily.
In August 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs
on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
and Japan finally surrendered.
Although this is a sad history, we should never forget the war.
If we learn about the war,
we can realize the importance of peace and the friendship between our two countries.
In tropical rain forests, there are many kinds of animals and plants.
These forests cover only two percent of the earth's surface,
but more than half of all plants and animals live there.
Without the rain forests, these plants and animals will die.
These plants and animals are very useful for humans
because we can make medicine for diseases from them.
Also plants can produce oxygen, which is essential for us to live.
There are large rain forests in South America, and in Southeast Asia.
The human population around these forests is growing fast,
and people are cutting down trees to get land for farming and other activities.
More than half of the world's rain forests have disappeared in the last 30 years,
and many kinds of plants and animals disappeared from the earth.
It is very easy for us to lose rain forests, but it is very difficult to get them back.
The balance of nature is very delicate.
Once we destroy the balance, it is almost impossible to produce it again.
Now not only the people living near the rain forests but everybody in the world should think
seriously about this problem.
We should think about how to help the people near the forests to live without cutting down the trees.
We should think about how to control population growth.
If we lose the rain forests, it will be great trouble for all of us.
What kind of people are millionaires?
In the United States, under ten percent of all people have more than half the money in the country.
Do you want to know how they live and how they become millionaires?
In the United States, university professors did research about people who have over one million dollars.
The professors asked them how they lived and how they had become rich.
The answers were quite surprising.
Maybe you think rich people drive expensive cars, but actually most of them drive cheap cars.
They don't live in big houses, and they don't eat expensive food.
They may make a lot of money, but they don't spend it.
After many years, they can save a lot of money and become rich.
The research also showed that most of the people who drive expensive cars and live in big houses are not actually rich.
They can buy expensive things, because they borrow a lot of money from banks.
Although they have expensive things, they don't have much money.
They only have debts.
Rich people not only teach their children how to make money,
but they also teach their children not spand much money.
Many times children in a rich family don't know that their parents have a lot of money,
because there is nothing expensive in the house.
Now you may have a hint about how to become rich.
It is very simple but difficult to do. Maybe you can start from today.
Many Americans are surprised Japanese people do many things in groups.
When Japanese people travel abroad, they travel in a group in a big bus, and they are always together.
In the Grand Canyon or at Niagara Falls,
you can see a big group of Japanese people following a tour guide holding a colorful flag.
They take group pictures and leave in a short time.
In Japanese companies, many workers are forced to go on company trips.
They can't take their family on the trip, and spend several days only with the members of their company.
On this trip they do sightseeing together in a group, too.
In athletic meetings at Japanese schools,
hundreds of students dance in the same way, and people think it is beautiful.
Why do the Japanese like to do things in groups? Why are Americans so surprised?
Some people say it is because Japanese people grew rice and Americans did hunting to get their food a long time ago.
In order to grow rice people had to work together.
If they hadn't, they couldn't have got food for everybody.
In hunting, one good hunter could get food for everybody,
so they didn't have to work together so often.
That's why even today Japanese people like groups, and American people like to do things alone.
Which do you like better, the Japanese way or the American way?
Do you like to do things together or alone?